March 15 Unity Movement

Murder of an Israeli family or Palestinian children killed in Gaza or a bomb going off in Jerusalem is sure to make international news. Violence always wins out against nonviolence in the news but hopefully not in life. “If it bleeds, it leads” makes for exciting news. However other things are growing here this spring as the result of uprisings throughout the Middle East.  Revolution is in the warm jasmine fragrant air.

On March 15, youth throughout the occupied territories came together to demand unity between warring political factions and the end to the occupation.  They have promised not to stop their solidarity demonstrations until there is an end to the division of Palestinian political parties, a call for elections, and electoral reform.  In order not to let their movement get taken over by others, they have camped out under tents and participated in hunger strikes. “We are hunger striking to prove that we exist in the real world and not just online, and to show that we are ready to die to end the division,” said organizer Fadi Quraan.

In Bethlehem around twenty five young men have been living under a large tent in Manger Square across from the Church of the Nativity.  They too have fasted.  Last week they held sit-ins in the middle of a busy intersection. At night they show movies and invite singers and other artists to join them.  

The youth refused to welcome delegates from the US Consulate as officials due to the American veto of the UN Resolution against Israeli settlement. They also criticized the Sheikh of the Manger Square Mosque who said during one of his sermons that young men and women protesting together were against Islam. The youth answered that they are brothers and sisters demanding national unity.

I often go to talk to these youth after taking a taxi back to the square after a demonstration or a visit to village where land is being confiscated or people harassed by soldiers. Their presence, their witness inspires me. Their hunger for new leadership and a new way of seeking nationhood gives me hope for the future. Their peaceful resistance feeds my sometimes weary spirit.